 |
| Photo Credit: AP. |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In director Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,” a 2021 satire about two scientists who try in vain to warn the world about a planet-destroying comet, the scientists’ desperate plea for action ultimately doesn’t work.
But don’t
take that as McKay’s view on the power of activism to change the course of the
climate crisis, the existential threat his movie was really about.
McKay on
Tuesday plans to announce a $4 million donation to the Climate Emergency Fund,
an organization dedicated to getting money into the hands of activists engaged
in disruptive demonstrations urging swifter, more aggressive climate action.
It’s the largest donation the fund has received since it started in 2019, and
McKay’s biggest personal gift. He joined the organization’s board in August.
Climate
change is “extremely alarming, extremely frightening, and quickly becoming the
only thing I’m thinking about on a daily basis, even as I’m writing scripts and
directing or producing,” McKay said in a recent interview with The Associated
Press.
From the
overthrowing of monarchies to labor movements and the Civil Rights Era,
activism is an “incredibly kinetic, powerful, transformative” force that’s
created change throughout history, he said.
The Climate
Emergency Fund has awarded $7 million to organizations supporting mostly
volunteer climate activists around the globe. Those activists have done
everything from marching in the streets of France to urge people to “look up” —
a reference to McKay’s film — to demonstrating on the water near West Virginia
Sen. Joe Manchin’s boat about the need for federal climate legislation.
The fund’s
goal is to provide a bridge for more traditional wealthy donors with activists
looking to make a statement — two groups that don’t always see eye to eye, said
Margaret Klein Salamon, the fund’s executive director and a clinical
psychologist.
As for the
ending of “ Don’t Look Up,” Salamon said it was an “important psychological,
cultural intervention” that put the stakes of the climate fight on stark
display.
McKay, for
his part, said he’s hesitant to attribute any direct action to his movie. But
he sees both film and disruptive protest as actions that change culture, which
can be a major step toward influencing policy. The film, he said, sparked an
incredible reaction around the globe from ordinary viewers and scientists who
have been fighting for climate action for decades.
“It was really beautiful to see people who
have been fighting this fight for much longer than me really feel seen,” he
said.
McKay, 54,
started his career in comedy writing and became known for movies like
“Anchorman” and “Step Brothers.” In recent years, his work has taken on a more
political tone, though it’s still in the realm of comedy — if dark. He wrote
and directed “The Big Short,” about the 2008 financial collapse, and “Vice,”
about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s influence, and he’s the executive
producer for “Succession,” the television show about a media mogul and his
children who want to take over the company.
He says his
own climate awakening came several years ago when he read a report by the
International Panel on Climate Change that highlighted the vast differences
that would occur if the planet warmed by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
instead of 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-Industrial levels. It
was the moment, he said, that he went from someone who was concerned about
climate change to someone who saw it as a hair-on-fire situation.
In the years
since, the situation has only grown more dire, he said, pointing to the drying
of the Colorado River, flooding in Pakistan and Europe’s summer heatwave as evidence
that action is urgent.
“I really do
believe, without any hyperbole, scientifically speaking, this is the greatest
challenge, story, threat, in human history,” he said.
Associated
Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private
foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely
responsible for all content.